My prayers go out to the victims and their families and all the people effected by this sad day in Va Tech’s history.

When I was at Tech I can’t tell you how many classes I had this building, I can still picture the hallways and rooms as if I was there. It breaks my heart to think that a kid who may have been sitting in the same chair I did, may have died in it.

When the first shooting took place,at about 7:15 A.M.,why didn’t the administration announce it then overthe P.A. system as a way to rach all the students? At least this would have been a way to alarm them as to what was happening and to take the proper precautions,such as evacuate or lock all the doors,etc. But, again, this is all in hindsight.
Ramundo

It’s so sad hearing and seeing what happened at Virginia Tech. My heart goes out to the parents, relatives and friends. I lost a son at the age of 35 without closure and buried him. It’s been 4 years this May and you truly never get over it and times like this with the Massacre, it festers up feelings again about my loss. I can only feel compassion for these people.

What I truly DO NOT understand is WHY didn’t anyone see this NO NAME killer as he entered the Campus WITH CHAINS, GUNS, etc….SOMEONE should have been ALERT to this NO NAME entering the CAMPUS – THE key here is ALL OF US should be ALERT at all times to what is happening around us. I truly feel the school should have had surveillance cameras and MAYBE – JUST MAYBE this could have been avoided. I know with my grandaughter who attends St. Jude, you can no longer get into the building without a code and THEN someone GREETS YOU UPON ENTRANCE.

The other area I don’t understand is ID – WHY ISN’T THIS PERSON ID’d through his finger prints alone? WHY ALL THE SUSPENCE TO THE PUBLIC? WHY DON’T WE HAVE A NAME YET? THIS IS CRAZY!

Also, the news media seem to be covering the SAME PHOTOS OVER AND OVER AGAIN – SAME POLICE OFFICERS – WHY IS THAT?

Again, I can’t emphasize enough my feelings of heartache for the parents, family and friends of these victims. I’ll continue to keep them in my prayres.

if smokinjoe had his way the authorities would provide all the protection we needed, well they didnt do such a good job this time.my heartfelt sympathies to all those involved in this tragedy. i live about 60 miles from tech (moved here from the politics of upstate new york) and the effect is felt even here. perhaps if 1 of the professors had a firearm the carnage would be less, cant speculate but it seems as if massacres like this tend to take place in gunfree zones.

Less than 24 hours later and you can already hear the gun control advocates rattling the cages. Obviously, this will become a major issue in the next few weeks.

I checked the website for the Brady Campaign and found postings made out yesterday calling for enhanced gun controls. This was before any information was available on the killer, victims, or weapons used.

This is the usual reactionary response that 2nd amendment supporters have come to expect. Although I do believe in certain restrictions and responsible ownership, these ideas can be explored later, respectably and via a public discourse.

For instance, “SmokinJoe”…honestly? Good way to show your colors. I’ve been here 10 minutes and I’ve already labeled you a radical. Illegal clips, eh? You seem very informed, beyond anyone else. You should apply for work with the TU if you have not already.

id be willing to bet that smokinjoe is a democrat?? well he doesnt matter either. if one of the professors had a firearm it could have ended the carnage, these types of massacres take place in gunfree zones and dont think the criminals arent aware of that. we need to use the laws on the books and send criminals to jail that commit crimes with guns, not plea bargain their sentence. my condolences to all the victims and families. i live about 60 miles from the campus but feel the effects none the less. i left upstate new york because of the smokinjoes and the politics

bobbybill is correct. This horrible event was not the President’s fault, nor the NRA’s fault, nor the firearms’ fault. The blame lies with the shooter alone.

Gun control laws would not have prevented this tragedy, because only law-abiding people like myself obey gun control laws. Homicidal maniacs don’t give a hoot about limited capacity magazine laws. You can’t legislate firearms into non-existence. A criminal whose intent it is to murder innocent unarmed victims will always find a way to do it.

As a member of the Hokie family (VT class of 1998), I am deeply shocked and saddened by yesterday’s events. It is impossible to imagine the events that occurred on the beautiful Virginia Tech campus where I spent many happy years.

For those of you not familiar with Blacksburg, please do not let this event shape your opinion of the town or the University. Virginia Tech is located in a beautiful, small town in the mountains of southwest Virginia (45 minutes from the nearest airport) and is the last place where one would expect an event such as this to occur.

Finally, the media is trying to place the blame for this shooting on the shoulders of the Virginia Tech administration and police department. Please do not give any weight to this sensationalistic journalism. The VT PD and president acted on the information they had at the time which told them that the first shooting was an isolated incident involving a domestic dispute. The could have never predicted the bloodshed to occur and a lockdown of the entire campus (over 100 buildings and 35,000 individuals) was not feasible and would not have prevented this psycho from carrying out his plan.

The entire Hokie nation is suffering from this loss. Please remember the families of those lost in your thoughts and prayers.

As a student I can say that I really don’t believe that anything could have been done differently. Even if they had mailed out an email earlier than they had, most students (COLLEGE STUDENTS) aren’t awake but five minutes before class giving them just enough time to run to class in their pajamas which gives no time to check their email. College campuses aren’t equiped with loud speaker or P.A. systems therefore there wouldn’t be a truly effective way to alert students of this incident.

I think that instead of trying to point fingers which is what a lot of people have been doing, we should instead help this community and it’s families by participating in vigils and other activities that many local organizations have been setting up.

My thoughts and prayers go out to the families and friends of the victims of this MASSIVE crime. Why does this have to happen in this day and age. We do not live in a society of cowboys and indians. Why do we have weapons of MASS destruction in our society. I am sick and tired of hearing about peoples gun rights. No one should be allowed to own a gun. Get over yourself. 23 years old and he used his rights on every one of the 33 that are no longer with us. That is not fair. We are all apart of this. It needs to be stopped.

There are human time bombs all over just waiting to explode. Its almost next to impossible to have a person committed who exhibit the violent warning signs. Until there is a law that allows people to get people like that help – all we can do is hope that another doesnt go off too soon. It will happen again and again.

I don’t know how all the gun control advocates are so quick to give up rights not for themselves but everyone else…

We have the 2nd admendment to keep our own government in check.
The ONLY argument I hear against this is ….
“We don’t live in times where we have to worry about our government oppressing us.”

Look who is in the White House and say that again!!!

Ironically, I sincerly DO hope and pray that these folks here like lovely or smokin’Joe are correct and they are not misguided in believing the alltrustic motives of those whom run our lives,decide what is and isnt good for us, and make our laws….

you guns nuts at best might “take a few down with ya” but you’ll never outnumber the law so please lose the testosterone overload and righteous vigilante act and do something constructive with your frustrations (sexual or otherwise) ….. i’m gonna go out on a limb and guess you guys did as well with the ladies as the gunman in Virginia, maybe it is YOU we need to be worried about going postal next?

It amazes me how the media immediately indicted the administration in all this, wondering why they didn’t do anything to prevent the second shooting. What a convenient way to place the blame on someone, since the monster who actually is to blame is now dead. Instances like this are why I got out of journalism, as I could not stand to stoop to the level of the idiots covering stories like this tragedy. The questions asked in the press conferences immediately following the shooting were simply mind boggling. I must have heard “why wasn’t the campus locked down” about a dozen times in the same press conference after it was clearly and calmly explained several times. It’s a horrible tragedy and should be treated as such without accusing the college of screwing this up. They did the best they could do with what they knew at the time. Ask anyone who works at ualbany, no way could they shut a place that size down too easily. RPI is a whole different ball of wax- what is there, about 3000 students there? I could be wrong, but the point is it is a much smaller area and is much easier logistically to ‘shut down’. When the kid with a rifle held up a class at UAlbany in the 90′s they did not down, I was on campus that day. It’s difficult to imagine how anyone could’ve prevented this. He was going to kill people yesterday regardless of any gun law or whatever else people want to blame this on, the kid was a mess. In all honesty, I’m surprised stuff like this doesn’t happen more frequently, I think with all the unstable people in the world, we are fortunate this only happens as often as it does.

The issue is not only about guns but mental health. As a college student, students can become weary this time of year with finals,graduation or facing the challenges of the job market. The signs were there with this young man but ignored until it was too late. Where are the social workers or counselors? I hope school officials not only monitor a students academic status but also their mental health. My prayers go out to all VT students,friends,family and officials.

I agree that the underlined issue is mental and emotional health. School officials should provide Social Workers or Counselors to reach out and help students who are in need of assistance. The guns,bombs or whatever weapons are just the results of not addressing issues such as stress,depression,bipolar etc.

You obviously don’t know what you’re talking about, especially when you make the bald assertion that Bush “repealed” the Brady Bill. He did no such thing. The Brady Bill had built-in sunset provisions for certain sections; it was up to Congress to re-enact those sections, which they chose not to. But then again, you’re not really concerned with facts, are you?

The problem is, SmokinJoe and those like him always take the easy way out on issues such as this – vilify the gun, an inanimate object that cannot defend itself in the argument, rather than address the real underlying issues, because if that happened, they would either have to make difficult choices or face the reality that what is actually necessary to address the problem leads into areas that are not in their political spectrum.

Look at the vitriol being spewed by the anti-gun posters. Comments by “lovely” blaming an inanimate object for this tragedy. Comments by “SmokinJoe” engaging in puerile name calling.

When “lovely” and “SmokinJoe” can blink their eyes or wiggle their noses and make all the firearms in the world go away, then I will no longer need firearms to defend my life or those of my loved ones.

I’m willing to bet, in their final moments on this earth, more than one of those innocent victims wished they had a tool available to defend their lives.

Thanks for making my point Prester John …… What scumbags owned all three chambers of government when the Brady Bill conveniently “sunsetted” as you put it??? ….. So who’s politically lazy??? Don’t ever let facts get in the way of your braindead talking points.

I agree guns alone aren’t the problem, it’s the insecure sexually frustrated mongoloids that make up 99.999% of the nra.

Nobody said gun laws alone would have made a difference in this case but attention to the facts that there are WAY TO MANY GUNS in this country and they are WAY TOO EASY TO GET!! …. That is a conversation that is long overdue and now that we have at least 2 chambers in DC led by people with 3 digit IQs maybe some common sense controls will be enacted!

In addition to insanity and career criminality, there is another relevant issue. That is: Competence in the use and the knowledge of when to use firearms. Either in self-defense or the defense of the lives of others.

For this to work there needs to be a number of civilian persons who must; volunteer and apply, be evaluated andscreened and then trained in the use of appropriate side arms. When fully trained and and legally (either publically or secretly) designated, they can then use these same firearms in defending themselves or others from those who would criminally assault them.

A publically deputized person can openly display a weapon along with other insignia or outward indicators of their status to legally and competently do so. Others who are deputized as secret or confidential civilian protection agents can keep their legal status a secret. Both should serve as a most effective deterrent to much of this kind of violent crime. First, by scaring the would be perpetrator that there could be a quick and effective response and, Second, by actually providing the same said response for which adequate training and legal authorization has been provided.

Career criminals and many criminally insane are deterred by what they don’t know (armed civilians unknown to them)(as in the case of Bernie Goetz, the N.Y.S. subway shooter who, until he was apprehended caused violent crime to plummet in N.Y.C.) and are not deterred by what they now know (a completely unarmed and defenseless civilian citizenry).

Its always after-the-fact that people start coming out of the woodwork revealing for the first time: ‘Yeah I knew he was a nut’. People just dont want to get involved. They want to be on TV. This makes me so mad because if they revealed what they knew about this guy before the shooting incident – it might never have happened and those people would still be alive today. I know Im not the smartest person alive but at least I get involved and try to prevent tragedies. Id be so embarressed with myself and so disappointed in myself if I didnt tell someone that I thought that that guy was a mental case and not ignore it and act like its not my problem.

I could not formulate a more articulated response due to my recent membership to the National Rifle Association. This has led to other serious consequences: an inability to operate motor vehicles, register rationale thought, and/or comprehend long division. In fact, I often find myself hopelessly wandering the house for several hours each morning, urinating on myself and muttering incoherent sentences. My wife, who is leaving me soon due to my inability to function sexually, has to ensure that I do not drink bleach or swallow pennies.

I guess I will just have to respect your constitutional right to express yourself, despite the fact you are prejudicing an entire group of people into a single categorization.

Hey SmokinJoe…I’m OK w/ you resorting to name calling to those whom opinions may differ from yours. Usually thatâ€™s what children tend to do when they come to grasp they have no argument based on logic….this is to be expected.

I on the other hand do understand that its uncomfortable thinking about home invasion, sexual assaults, and strong arm robbery happening to you or your loved ones. I also am able to understand a gun control advocate ( now Joe-notice how I refrained from phrasing as “gun control nuts”)thinking that if somehow they could rid the entire world of guns then that would automatically make us all safer. Would it?
and please I am sincere in saying to you that in spite of every generalization and epitaphs you have made towards myself that I am 100% open to any logic or insight that you have (that otherwise has escaped me) so unless your more entertained by insults rather that debate. I’m open to being convinced.

Ever noticed when a VT or Columbine type senario unfolds the perpatrator picks a school or amish children to target?
Never do they walk into a police station and start spraying at those whom are able to spray back.

These perps are not only HIGHLY mentally disturbed but cowards.
anger needs to be levied towards the gunman not anybody whom owns a gun.
it’s the equivqalent of banning cars AND booze for ALL OF US in order to curb drunk driving.

I do still have the nagging thought , that more could have been done after the initial two shootings. Obviously I do not live on campus so I might not know what I am talking about…….but.
My heart goes out to the families of the victims who may have the same thoughts that I have.
Ingy